Howl's Moving Castle
by Hayao Miyazaki
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DVD details
Actor: Akihiro Miwa, Chieko Baishô, Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya GashûinDirector: Hayao Miyazaki
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Producer: Hayao Miyazaki
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki
Producer: John Lasseter
Producer: Ned Lott
Producer: Rick Dempsey
Producer: Tomohiko Ishii
Writer: Diana Wynne Jones
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Japanese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Japanese (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 119 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-03-07
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 04139900
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Product features:
- 2-disc special edition features both the original Japanese soundtrack and an English language soundtrack
- Behind the Microphone featurette with the English language voice cast and footage from the dubbing sessions
- Interview with Pixar Animation Studios Director, Pete Docter
- Hayao Miyazaki Visits Pixar Animation Studios with Pixar director John Lasseter
- Complete storyboards set to the movie soundtrack
DVD Reviews of Howl's Moving Castle
DVD Review: Just shy of perfect.
Summary: 4 Stars
Before I start this review let me just state that I love Miyazaki films, and in this case I did what many people swear up and down you shouldn't do, namely I read the book before watching the movie so that I could compare and contrast... where to begin. I think at this point it would be faster to tell you which elements from the book have been kept vs. which elements from the story have been changed...but I'll do my best.
First, the similarities...
-There was a girl named Sophie who lived and worked in a hate shop who came under a curse from the Witch of the Waste. She did age to her later years and left home to travel, where she came across a scarecrow. After this she did find the castle lived in by Michael (whose name in the film is changed to Markl) and the Wizard, Howl, and the fire demon, Calcifer.
-Howl does have a curse on him and Calcifer is intrical to the curse and also to Howl's survival.
-The scene where Howl dyes his hair and throws the tantrum is spot on in comparison to the book.
-They do move house at one point and Calcifer must be removed from his hearth.
-The many portaled door does lead to various places... Porthaven, Kingsbury, the Waste outside Market chipping (Sophie's home town) and to Howl's home in Wales. In the film the latter one lead to the wreckage from the war.
Ok that's about where the similarities stop...now the differences...
-For one thing, Howl's curse does not affect him. It does not change his appearance to resemble that of a bird, and it never really is an issue that he is cursed until he starts fulfilling all of the necessary parts to enable the curse on his head. The curse was cast by the Witch of the Waste, but Howl did start it when he caught a star in his youth (Calcifer) and combined the star with his heart.. Something that Miyazaki went into greater detail then Jones.
-The curse was not brought onto Howl's head by Sophie giving it to him from the Witch of the Waste. He actually attained it from his nephew Neil who got it from his teacher, Miss Angorian, as a class assignment, which of course was just her way of getting it to him at his weakest point. Now, Michael actually unearthed it, because at some point it got exchanged with the spell he was supposed to be studying and he and Sophie spend some time trying to collect the elements of the "spell" before Howl realizes what it is and that they are only quickening his doom.
-Sophie did stand the scarecrow up and breath life into him by talking to him, but after that she was scared of him. He ended up trying to get her attention because he was the Prince under an enchantment, but every time he tried to get close to her she (and the other people in the castle) did their best to keep him out and away, thinking he intended to harm them.
-Sophie's appearance doesn't alter from youth to aging woman. This was confusing to me, as there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to this in the film, no lynch pin as to why she suddenly looks younger, unless it ties into her feelings for Howl... that really seems to be the only connection...when she's in love she flashes younger... I don't even think she gained her youth back in the end of the book even though the contract with Calicifer was broken... at least there was no mention of Sophie being young suddenly.
-Michael's name has been changed to Markl in the film, but that is not the only difference. Michael's age has also changed. He's a young man in the book, I believe 15, and he is in love with Sophie's sister Martha, who was disguised as her other sister Lettie.
-In the same vain Howl is in love with Sophie's sister Lettie, who is disguised as Martha... but Howl knows that she is Lettie because he can see through the enchantment. He spends a good time pursuing her in his enchanted suits (meant to aid in his charming young ladies) and his guitar until his heart is stolen away from Miss Angorian.. Who doesn't even appear in the film.
-Ok, the whole love sub plot at all... um, they didn't fall in love in the book... Howl was a lecher who was pursuing numerous women and in the book he first fell in love with Sophie's sister, Lettie, and then his nephew Neil's teacher, Miss Angorian. Sophie ends up living with him in the end and that's about it. There was no "walking on air" scene in the beginning as a prelude to the two falling into romantic love...there was no feelings at all beyond that of familial.
-The sub plot of the war in exchange for Howl's amorous pursuits... Hmmm... This may have been done for two reasons. One was so that Howl can fly about, showing off his bird form, and make himself look more sympathetic all around because he gives a damn about something besides himself. Two, Miyazaki loves animating huge air ships and mechanical things, tanks and what not... what's a Miyazaki film without an air battle? Well, the war added this typical Miyazaki element... except that there was very little war sub plot in the book. It was mentioned in snatches but not made that much of beyond snippets of conversations about Porthaven and Kinsbury and the armies. It was so little hinted at that I actually did not pick up on it that much on my inital reading until I went back (after viewing the film) and rechecked some things. It seems like they exchanged the magnitude of the lecherous plot with the war plot to make it more dynamic and take time away from Howl`s obsessions about himself...but that was part of the beauty of the book was that they weren't that technologically advanced (seemingly), it was more about the magic than the might. And, I'm sorry, but Howl being a vain and selfish man was one of the reasons I loved him. His tantrums and drama had me giggling like crazy, and if he weren't such a drama queen he would have been uninteresting and...well.. Like Howl was in the movie, a touch flat.
-Howl was not conscripted to aid the King's in the war... he had different duties from each one that never quite seemed explained until you knew that he had to find the Prince Justin who had gone missing.
-Howl's teacher was named Mrs. Pentstemmon, and she and Howl loved each other like mother and son. In fact when she dies Howl attends the funeral in disguise true, but he mourns her for some time afterwards. In the movie her named was Mrs. Suliman (who was talked at much in the book but ended up being cursed in the end) and she took both the Witch of the Waste and Mrs. Angorian's places in the latter part of the film as the villain. In the book the witch did not come to live with them and, though she wasn't the ultimate bad guy in the end she did cause them all quite a bit of grief.
Ok, I know there was more, but I will have to reread the book and see the film again in order to catalogue them all. The last 100 pages I read in one day and then I watched the film in the evening, so some of the details are fuzzy. I do plan on reading the book again soon. It was wonderful and I think it's going to become one of my "comfort" books, as my friend Amy likes to call them. That being said, I have very mixed feelings about this adaptation of such a wonderful book. Obviously, I adored the book, it was a tremendous treat... and even though there were all of these differences between the two I actually enjoyed the film as well. Perhaps I would have liked it more had it been a touch more faithful to the book, but this is always the issue with adaptations, you either get an exact duplicate or creative license. Well, Miyazaki is one of my favourite creative minds to date, so I always enjoy his work... and this did have all of the elements of a great Miyazaki film. The animation and the scenery is gorgeous, the relationships with the characters is wonderful... the storyline, even though it is severely altered from the book, is interesting, although a bit... off. The thing I wish he would have kept in was all of those little touches that made the book so wonderful and made me think it was a perfect thing for Miyazaki to adapt... there are little nuances peppered throughout the book that seem so indicative of him to begin with had I not known he was adapting it I would have thought he should have... however he left out a lot of the good stuff that made this book so wonderful. I'm torn, I really am.
I find I will have to consider the film and the book as two completely separate entities in order to enjoy both of them. Fans of his work will love this movie, as it is visually stunning and one of the best works he has put out, but I cannot get over some of the alterations and for me this brings the movie from a perfect to less than perfect. 4 out of 5 stars... for now. I'm sure I'll learn to love the film in time, but now I am still too intimate with the book to love the film.
Description of Howl's Moving Castle
In Hayao Miyazaki's latest animated masterpiece, journey beyond imagination and enter a "breathtaking fantasy world" (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) filled with adventure, humor and heart. Sophie, a quiet girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl. The vain and vengeful Witch of the Waste, jealous of their friendship, puts a spell on Sophie. In a life-changing adventure, Sophie climbs aboard Howl's magnificent flying castle and enters a magical world on a quest to break the spell. Featuring the voice talents of Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, Blythe Danner, and Billy Crystal, Miyazaki's artistry comes to life on DVD with inventive characters, unique storytelling and richly detailed animation. (c) 2004 Nibariki ? GNDDDTLike a dream, Howl's Moving Castle carries audiences to vistas beyond their imaginations where they experience excitement, adventure, terror, humor, and romance. With domestic box office receipts of over $210 million, Howl passed Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke to become the #3 film in Japanese history, behind his Spirited Away and James Cameron's Titanic. Based on a juvenile novel by Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle marks the first time Miyazaki has adapted another writer's work since Kiki's Delivery Service (1989). Sophie, a 19-year-old girl who believes she is plain, has resigned herself to a drab life in her family's hat shop--until the Witch of the Waste transforms her into a 90-year-old woman. In her aged guise, Sophie searches for a way to break the Witch's spell and finds unexpected adventures. Like Chihiro, the heroine of Spirited Away, Sophie discovers her hidden potential in a magical environment--the castle of the title. Using CG, Miyazaki creates a ramshackle structure that looks like it might disintegrate at any moment. Sophie's honesty and determination win her some valuable new friends: Markl, Howl's young apprentice; a jaunty scarecrow; Calcifer, a temperamental fire demon; and Heen, a hilarious, wheezing dog. She wins the heart of the dashing, irresponsible wizard Howl, and brings an end an unnecessary and destructive war. The film overflows with eclipsing visuals that range from frightening aerial battles to serene landscapes, and few recent features--animated or live action--offer as much magic as Howl's Moving Castle. --Charles Solomon
The Many Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki
 The works of Miyazaki |  The Book |  The Art of Howls' Moving Castle (book) |
Stills from Howl's Moving Castle (click for larger image)
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